The Price of Pride
by Da'Ink
Summary: It's the year 2023. The light has been defeated, but now a new danger threatens our world. Will the new members of the team be able to stop it? Or will this world finally reach its end? Many OC and Canon Characters. HIATUS
1. Chapter 1: Salad Days

**Okay guys! Here the first chapter! I hope you like it! I put alot of time into this chapter. I'm sorry if I didn't get to write much about your OC yet(to those whos Oc I am using), but I will get to them soon. I promise!**

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**Chapter 1 Salad Days/ April 5, 2023**

**Mount Justice**

"You're gonna have to try harder than that! Honestly, I thought you were supposed to be fast here!"Eric smirked as he dodging Vincent's right swing. They were sparing in the training room while Heather, Tim, Evelyn, and Bart were watching them on the side lines.

Then team had grown a lot over the past few years. Superboy and Miss Martian were now the team's official den-parents. They finally got together after the light was defeated. Lagoon Boy-well- its Lagoon Man now, he took the break up pretty hard and ended up leaving the team. Soon after many of the other members, like Nightwing, Oracle, Batwoman, Mal, Bumblebee, Beast Man, Wondergirl, and Blue Beatle ended up leaving the gang as well. Some were on the Justice League now, but many of them ended up going solo.

Eric Fisher had joined the team about four years ago and goes by the nameTracker when in costume. He somewhat looks like Tim back when he was younger. He has the same build, same haircut, the only difference is that his hair is brown and his eyes have a green shade added to them. In all honesty, most people that know him aren't too surprised of how similar he is to Tim. He was his idol and somewhat a mentor for a time. Now Eric currently resides in the cave, but he is known to take off every now and then for extended periods of time. Only Tim knows where he goes and he won't say. It has to do with some sort of personal matter.

Tim is the new leader**,** by the way. He took up the role after Nightwing and has been doing a pretty decent job at it. The only problem is that he and Damian still have issues with one another. Ever since Damian started living with Bruce, he has been trying to do everything possible to prove to Batman that he is the worthy son and has attempted several times to kill Tim. Thankfully however, he hasn't tried to kill Tim in his sleep for over five months.

Then again, he hasn't had a chance. After his last attempt; Batman had Arianna, a young girl that he found a few years back, make sure that he goes home with her every night. Should the occasion comethat they couldn't go home, the two have to share a jointed room to make sure he doesn't try anything funny in the middle of the night. If he so much as makes a step outside his room without her permission, she will know and freeze him with a time spell in 0.2 seconds flat. She has to prepare the spell in advance**,** of course, but with all the practice Damian has been giving her, she's been getting really good at it.

"I am fast!" Vincent smiled, "I'm the fastest boy in the world!"

"Excuse me, that's _my_ title." Bart raised a brow.

"For now**,**" He chuckled. Vince is a big guy with pale blue eyes and really short light brown hair. He's tall and muscular, almost to the point you would be surprised that he's a speedster. He is the Flash's new Protégé. Wally found him about a year after Barry died. It was pretty hard on him, but having Vince and his family helped him get through it.

Before Wally found him, Vince grew up in foster care. He doesn't talk too much about his family, but he likes telling the story of how he got his powers. It all happened when he went out during a storm one day. He was going home when he came across a car accident that involved a few semis that were transporting chemicals for some company. Most of the drivers got out of their trucks, but one was still inside. Vince thought it was odd that no one was trying to get him out, but then he realized that they were afraid to get anywhere near the chemicals that had spilled on the road.

As much as Vince knew he should have just kept on walking and let the police handle it, he couldn't bring himself to leave the guy stuck like that. So he ran over to the crash, and dragged the man out of his truck, but just as that happen lightning struck the truck, then the gas and chemicals blew up.

When he woke up in the hospital a few weeks later and everything was slower. No, he was faster! He could sprint to school and back in .3 seconds flat. It wasn't long after that he ran away from his foster home and started to live as a hero for hire. Of course**,** he helped anyone he saw, but he always asked for whatever money they could spare for food and necessities.

Back in the present, Eric jumped up in the air and quickly brought down a kick on Vince's head, "Dude!" Vince raise his arms and blocked him**.** "Not the face, man!"

"Aw, come on! This is training!" Eric flipped backwards and performed a low kick which knocked Vince on his back. Then the digital screen on the floor brought up the word: "FAIL" right next to him in big bright red letters. Then before he could even get up, Eric pinned him down with his foot, "You got to be ready for when a bad guy actually does come up and try to hit you in the face, you know? I'm just preparing you for it."

"You have a point." Vince nodded**.** "But until then-" He grabbed Eric's foot and knocked him off balance.

Eric fell over next to him with his mouth open in surprise. Then the "FAIL" sign appeared next to him, too.

Then Vince used his super speed to get up and take a fighting stance over him, "-I don't want YOU trying to mess it up, got that?"

Eric looked at him all wide eyed and stunned for a second, as if he was surprised Turbo was able to knock him down. Then**,** he just smiled and raised his hands in surrender, "Sure thing, man. Sure thing."

"Alright, so are you guys done yet? Evelyn and I wanted to go a few rounds." One of the girls rolled her eyes.

That was Heather A.K.A Cherub; she was in her usual arms crossed pose. She's a tiny thing, barely over five feet and has no curves what so ever. She does have a pair of wings though. They sprout right out of her back. She also has medium length flaxen blonde that she likes to keep up in a ponytail in order to keep it out her blue eyes. She's rather cold towards others, which sometimes makes it hard to believe that she's half angel. No one knows too much about her except that she joined the team a few years ago and Hawkwoman took her in as her mentor.

"Aw, come on Heather." Vince smiled**.** "Let us have another go. We're almost done." Then**,** his smiled turned into a big wide smirk**.** "Besides, I know how much you like watching us go at each other. Or should I just say, watching me."

"In your dreams**,**" she scoffed.

"Every night, babe." He winked at her.

"Oh, God." Heather face-palmed. The others just laughed.

"Oh, just kiss already." Evelyn teased, but the nephilim didn't find this funny at all. She looked absolutely livid.

Evelyn is beautiful. She has the looks, the body, dazzling gray eyes, all tied in with her silver highlights and jet black hair. No one on the knows her full story, except that Nightwing was the one who took her in. Now she lives in the cave with the majority of the team.

"Gladly!" Turbo zoomed over to Heather only to have her perform the same low kick that Eric did and knock him on his behind.

"Not in this life time." She glared.

"Alright guys enough. Let the girls have their turn." Tim smiled and took Evelyn into his arms from behind. The two had been dating for three months now. "And Heather, help Vince up, please. I don't need him bleeding on the good floor."

"Alright**,**" Heather groaned and did as requested.

"Hey**,**why don't we go outside to the beach? The others are out there**,**" Bart suggested, "Well, most of them anyway."

"Sure, I guess." Heather shrugged. "I could use some fresh air. And some time to stretch my wings."

"Yes you do." Vince smiled at her, she just rolled her eyes. "Are you gonna finally wear that blue bikini I bought you?"

"Are you gonna stop hitting on me every few seconds?"

Vince kept his smile, but shook his head**.** "Not a chance."

"Then no, I'm not wearing the bikini." she scoffed.

"Come guys! You two can flirt later! This is so crash! Let's get out of here!" He zoomed out of the room.

"Wait for me!" Vince followed closely behind him. The others just calmly walked back to their rooms and changed into their bathing suits.

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It was a hot day out and nearly half the team was already out on the beach. The majority were in the shallow water playing volleyball, while the others were out of the water on the beach making sand castles.

"It's such a nice day out." Arianna smiled as she floated in the water with her long dark brown hair spread around her head, almost crowning it. "Don't you think Damian?" Her honey eyes flashed over to the boy. As always, he was close by. Damian was 15 now, but you would think he was older. He's tall, almost 6"0' with a lot of lean muscle all over his body. He actually looked like a younger version of Bruce.

Batman and Tim found Arianna, a.k.a Charm, some time ago. She was very pretty and had a thin little curvy body that stood at about 5"2'. Not too many people know what happen to her, but somehow she got Batman to agree to let her stay with him. She's one of the stronger members of the team due to her immense magical abilities, but she is also the weakest. Batman was going to make her another Robin, but he soon discovered that her body is very fragile, almost too fragile. It happened when Damian took a swing at her during one of his temper tantrums a few years back and she ended up with two fractured ribs. When Bruce took her to the hospital, the doctors told him that symptoms indicated that she had some form of Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or otherwise known as Brittle Bone Disease. Although for some reason, all her blood work and test**s** say otherwise. Needless to say, Damian felt really bad afterwards. So Batman had Damian make up for it by having him look out for her.

It was only by chance that they found out that she had a gift for the mystic arts. Dick, Zatanna and a few other former members of the team came over to help Tim pack and move out of the manor. Damian was driving him crazy. Then**,** as soon as Zatanna laid eyes on Arianna, she felt her power and told Batman about it. Not long after Zatanna took her as her Protégé, but she still lives at Wayne Manor.

"It's adequate, I suppose." He nodded.

"Is that your way of saying yes?" She cocked a brow.

"What do you think?" His gaze shifted to her.

"I think it's a yes." She grinned.

Damian's mouth curved upward a bit, letting a smile appear on his face.

"Hey! Ninja boy and magic girl!" One of the guys called over**.**"You guys what to play volleyball with us?"

It was Tom A.K.A. Cold Wolf. He had a rather thin body which barely stood over Arianna's height. Damian picks on him saying he looks like a girl because of how long his dark brown hair is, but then Arianna defends him by transforming Damian's clothes into a dress and he shuts up.

He grew up in Sweden with his parents until one day Ice found him. Like most members of the team, he didn't feel like telling his story about how he ended up there on the team. He's been living at the cave for about four years now. He's a good guy; nice and loyal as can be, almost like a dog. Then again, he is one. Well, part at least. He's an ice werewolf. The tiny guy you see here can change into a giant raving half beast and can freeze practically anything he lays his eyes on.

"Sure,**c**ount me in." Damian nodded.

Arianna beamed, "Me-"

"No**,**" Damian cut her off.

"What'd you say?" Tom shouted. He didn't quite catch the last part. It looked as if Damian was saying something to Arianna, but he could make it out.

"Excuse me?" Arianna knitted her brows together.

"You're not playing**,**" Damian replied firmly.

"Like hell I'm not! You're not the boss of me!" she snapped. She hated it when Damian got like this. Whenever he felt like something would get Arianna hurt, like sports or certain types of missions, he would try to stop her from participating. Granted she was happy that he cared, but being treated like a little kid by a kid drove her crazy. She was _his_babysitter for crying out loud. Not the other way around! No matter what Batman says.

"I'm still not going to let you play**,**" He stated firmly, not backing down.

"I'm older than you!" She argued.

"By two years!" He started to shout**.** "That doesn't matter. I'm bigger than you, it's my job to make sure to go home in one piece and you will do what I say! Got it?"

Her jaw dropped**.** "I can't believe you!"

"What?" Damian started to look confused. Had he said something wrong?

All the color went to Arianna's face and she turned bright red, "Teg tuo fo ym ecaf!" she screamed and an unseen force shoved him backwards into the water. "Jerk!" She yelled and she stormed off.

"Arianna! Wait!" Damian tried to get up, but he couldn't seem to find his footing**.** "Damn it!"

"You okay?" Tom asked as she walked by, she could feel everyone eyes on her back when she walked on past them.

"Just peachy**,**" She grumbled. Then just as she started to make her way inside, the others from the training room were coming out.

"Arianna!" A flirtatious smirk came across Eric's face, "Babe, what's up?"

"Go away, Eric. I'm not in the mood for you**,**" She snapped at him and forced her way through the group and went inside.

"What was that about?" Evelyn cocked a brow.

"I got an idea." Tim's gaze fell on Damian. The boy was stomping out of the salt water. "What'd you do?"

"Nothing," he growled and continued off to the group playing volleyball.

Once he got out of earshot Evelyn put her hand on Tim's shoulder**. **"Do you want me to talk to him?"

He shook his head**.** "No, I will, but not right now." He paused, "Arianna on the other hand-"

"What's going on?" The group spun around to find Conner and Miss Martian behind them.

"Arianna and Damian had another fight. Now Arianna's all mad and stormed inside."

"Wow…" M'gann gasped**.** "What me to go handle it?"

"Would you please?"

"Sure, no problem." She nodded and flew inside.

"Well at least that's covered." Vince smiled. "Now come on! Let's go play ball!" He zoomed down the beach to the players.

"Right behind you, big guy!" Bart sped after him.

"Those two…" Heather shook her head.

"Aw come on Heather! Let's just go have a little fun!" Eric patted her on the back.

"Fine." She sighed and the three followed after the speedsters.

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The volleyball group split up into two teams. On one side was Tom, Damian, Samantha, Bart, Mischa, and Spencer. On the other, Cameron, Eric, Vincent, Tim, Heather, and Evelyn. It was six on six, with Conner as the referee.

"You going down, Drake." Damian narrowed his eyes.

"Whatever you say, baby bird!" Tim smirked, which only made Damian's glare scarier.

"Remember guys, Keep it clean," Conner shouted to the two groups. "Now let's play!"

"Wait!" Tom cried. "Time out! Does anyone have a phone? Or know what time it is?"

Heather looked up in the sky. "About 4:30. Why?"

"4:30! Crap I'm gonna be late!" He ran over to his stuff and quickly grabbed his things and ran inside.

"What was that about?" She cocked a brow.

"The guy has a date." Bart smiled.

Then**,**Vince popped up behind him and mouthed to Heather, 'Call me!" while holding his hand close to his ear as if it was a phone.

Everyone laughed, but Heather just scrunched up face and shook her head**.**"No."

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**Okay guys! What do you think? RxR please! Feedback and Advice welcomed. **


	2. Chapter 2: L'amour est dans l'air

**Okay guys, I'm gonna be honest with you. These first couple of chapters are mainly to just introduce the characters. Being that they are OCs, I think they need introducing so you got an idea of who they are. The action will step up next chapter though. I do promise you that.**

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**Chapter 2 L'amour est dans l'air**

**April 5,2023**

Tom had to run to town on his bike to go pick up the flowers he ordered. When he got back he quickly took a shower and changed into his favorite purple shirt and blue jeans. He wanted to look good for his date.

Grabbing the few last things, Tom quickly left his room and started down the hallway. If he didn't get in front of his girlfriend's door in the next five minutes, he was gonna be late. They have been going out for three years now and today was their anniversary. He wanted it to be special.

It wasn't long before he reached his her room. When he arrived, he knocked on it a few times and waited. "Tom?" The door swung open and revealed a tall, beautiful girl with slightly dark caramel skin and dark brown hair.

"Hey**,**Amber**.**" His face lit up and he greeted her with a kiss**.**"Happy Anniversary! I got you some flowers." He handed her bouquet of roses.

Amber laughed**.** "You remembered!"

"Of course I remembered!" He smiled**.** "Do you think any guy forgets the day he started going out with the most beautiful girl in the world."

"Oh, Tom, Tom, Tom." She repeated his name and leaned down to give him a kiss, "Flattery will get you everywhere." She smiled. Unlike most traditional couples where the guy is taller than the girl, Amber stood a good four inches over Tom. Regardless of that though, the couple managed to look past- or rather- Amber was able to look past that. There were few girls out there that plan on falling in love with the thin little guy and Amber definitely was not one of them. Though her heart changed one day when they were out on a mission.

It happened a few months after they met. Amber and Tom were investigating the disappearance of the British Ambassador. It turned out that he had been kidnapped by Bane and was being held for ransom. Amber ended up getting captured by him, leaving Tom by himself to figure out what to do. She knew the werewolf had a thing for her, but she never realized how much until he singlehandedly took on Bane and his forces just to free her. After the whole ordeal was over, Amber finally returned his feelings and the two started dating.

"So where are we going?" Amber asked as she wrapped her arms around hi**s** waist. They were about to leave on one of the Team's motorcycles. The ones that were supposed to only be used on missions, but that never stopped anyone from taking them out for a joy ride every now and then.

"You'll see**,**" He laughed and the two took off.

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Evelyn and Tim were enjoying themselves on the beach that night. The others have long since ended their volleyball game and went inside, but the couple decided to stay out and enjoy some alone time together. "The moon's real pretty out tonight, don't you think Tim?"

"Yeah it is." He wrapped his arms tight around her waist; she was sitting in his lap. "I like how it's reflecting of the water."

"Yeah, it's beautiful." She nodded**.** "So how did the talk with Damian go?"

"Eh." He rested his forehead on her shoulder**.** "It didn't go well."

"What happen?"

"He told me she got mad because he wouldn't let her play volleyball with the others. So I told him that he should have just let her and that he shouldn't be so controlling over her**,**" he grumbled.

"Wow**.**" She raised her brows**.** "I can only image how that went over."

"It didn't**,**" He continued**.**"We got into an argument and eventually he just told me to f*** off."

"Well**,**you can't blame the kid, Tim." She patted his hand."Bruce told him to look after her, and that's what he's doing. It's his job. Besides, you know how that girl is. She thinks she can do something and the next thing we know; we have to rush her to the hospital with a broken limb."

"Yeah, I know. He has his hands full." He nodded**.** "But seriously, how does he think he's gonna get anywhere with her if he keeps her on a two-foot leash all the time?"

"Damian and Arianna?" Evelyn turned around lifted a brow.

"Yeah." Tim gave her a questioning look**.** "Why? You don't see it?"

"Hm, not really. I think they just see each other as siblings**.**" Evelyn smirked**.** "I'm more interested in seeing Eric with her."

"Eric and Arianna?" Tim chuckled**.** "I don't think so."

"Aw, Come on. You know they like each other."

"I know Eric flirts with her, _a lot_, but as far as a real relationship working between them, I don't think it would ever work out."

"Why not?"

"Because while she has gotten over her parents deaths, he still hasn't. I know them, believe me. They are best off just staying friends."

"If you say so," Evelyn replied, she still wasn't convinced. "At least she knows he has a thing for her, which is more that I can say for Spencer and his certain little admirer."

"He still doesn't know she likes him?" Tim asked surprised, "Wow. Poor girl."

"I know right?" she groaned**.** "That boy just can't take a hint!"

Tim just laughed, "Honestly, that girl will probably die of old age before he figures it out. And here I thought the boy was smart."

"He is," She confirmed**.** "He's just an idiot when it comes to girls. Hey look!" She pointed up toward the road and saw a motorcycle riding off into the city.

Tim took a quick glance**.** "Its Tom and Amber. Bart said they had a date, remember?"

"Yeah," she nodded**.** "Those two are such a cute couple. I've never seen any two people more right for each other."

"No kidding." Tim smirked**.** "I still can't believe those two are still together."

"Arg, not this again." Evelyn rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Eve!" He inclined his head toward the direction the couple went off to**.** "The girl towers over him like a skyscraper! I still don't get what she sees in him."

"She loves him." Evelyn rolled her eyes, "_You_ don't have to understand what she see in him. She does. They're together, that's that!"

"Come on, you don't find it to be the least bit weird?" Tim raised a brow**.** "Even just a little?"

"Nope." She let a smirk come over her face.

"Women**,**" he huffed and gave her a kiss on her shoulder.

Evelyn involuntarily shivered under his lips. He probably would have given her another one, but a thought popped into her head**.** "What about Heather and Vince?"

Tim paused**.** "What about them?"

"Do you think they'll get together?"

"I can't really say**,**" Tim admitted**.** "Vince is a real flirt, but he usually backs off after a while. This time**,**however, he seems persistent."

"I'd say! I think he really likes her." Evelyn smiled. "And Heather may not admit it, but I know she likes all the attention he's been giving her."

"How much do you want to bet they go together to prom?"

"A kiss." She turned around and pressed her lips against his.

He kissed her back**.** "But you're already giving me that." He smiled.

"You can just pay them back to me later." She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled. They started deepen their kiss, but that all stopped when they heard someone yell, "Red Robin!" The couple quickly sprung apart.

It was Stella. Her whole name is Estelle DeVoy, but they just call her Stella. Her superhero name is Phoenix. As her name suggest, she has control over fire and she can even turn herself into fire. She's a pretty girl. She has the whole long flowing red hair, beautiful green eyes, and toned curvy body thing going on; but Evelyn hated it when she interrupted her time with Tim. She tried not to let it get to her, but it just happened way more often than she liked. "Tim! I got-" She looked at the lone couple. They were sitting close to each other, all red, and somewhat panting.

She didn't realize what was going on at first, but then it finally dawned on her**.** "Oops!" Her eyes went wide**.**"I'm so sorry, guys! Didn't know you two were having a moment." An awkward silence echoed between the three for another moment, then Stella quickly stated, "I'll just come back later."

She was about to turn away when Tim spoke up**.** "What is it, Stella?"

The girl paused**.** "Remember that situation in Mexico you wanted me to look into?" The boy nodded**.** "Well**,**I just got back from scouting it out. You were right. Someone is trying to produce Kobra Venom again."

"I see**,**" He sighed and the two rose to their feet. "Let's go inside then show me what you have." He turned back to Evelyn**.**"Sorry, but it's important that I look into this."

Evelyn sighed, "Its fine… It's fine."

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Stella brought up the file on the computer and several images of smugglers and Kobra Venom being manufactured popped up on another holographic screen. "I'm not sure who's running the whole thing, but whoever is it, they want a lot of it." She turned towards her leader, "I went through their files. They have over 50 tons of this stuff."

Tim looked at the images and diagrams the girl had made. From the look, it seemed as if someone was making enough venom for a small army. Why?

"How soon until they move out?" Tim asked.

"Tomorrow night," she replied.

"Get Cameron, Sam and Vincent. I'll get Damian and Evelyn. The six of you are leaving tonight."

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"Okay Tom**.** Where are you taking me?" Amber looked around. Tom had taken her though a zeta tube and now the couple were in a city that she has never seen before.

"I told you, you'll see! Don't worry, we're almost there."

She just rolled her eyes**.** "If you say-" The bike made a quick swerve to the left and spin into a parallel park along the curb. Once they came to a halt, Amber took off her helmet and screamed, "Are you crazy? You just gave me a heart attack!"

Tom took off his helmet and laughed. "Well you're okay, aren't you?" The two climbed off the bike.

"I'm driving home," she declared. "I don't trust you behind the wheel anymore." She was trying togive him her cold, hard, death glare, but was failing miserably. She couldn't stay mad at him, he was too sweet for that.

"Whatever you say, beautiful." He continued on smiling. "So tell me, do you know where we are?"

"Not real-" Amber stopped herself in mid-sentence. She knew exactly where they were. "No way."

"Yes way." He smirked.

"We're in Paris!" The Eiffel Tower was right in front of them. She let out a squeal and rushed over to her boyfriend to catch him the tightest hug of his life, "You should have told me! I would have dressed better than just this little sundress." She gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "I love you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tom laughed**.** "Hold on! Wait to you see the restaurant! Then you can tell me how much you love me."

Amber just smiled**.** "Sure thing, Handsome. Right after this last one." She closed her eyes and gave him a long lasting kiss on the lips. "You are the world's best boyfriend ever," she whispered.

"I know," he whispered back with a smiled. "Happy Anniversary, Amber."

"Happy Anniversary."

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**Yay! You reached the end of the chapter! Did you like it? Hate it? let me know! I love hearing back from you guys. It give me ideas and pushes me to be a better writer.**

**So please RxR. I want to hear your thoughts.**


	3. Chapter 3: Unnoticed Shadows

**Unnoticed Shadows/ April 5, 2023**

Stella had gathered up the team while Tim quickly retrieved Evelyn and Damian. The group was ready and prepped with their costumes and weapons, but most of them looked confused and agitated. Stella could tell just by looking at them, that they were not happy about this late night mission. However, orders were orders. If they wanted to stay on the team or perhaps even keep their home there at the cave, they had to follow them.

Tim hadn't told them anything yet and they were all anxious to know why they were being dragged out of their rooms at 10:00 at night. Finally, Cameron got the nerve to speak up. "This better be good."

Tim just rolled his eyes and ignored him along with everyone else, who were giving him dirty looks. "Listen up team!" He looked at the six of them. "You're going to infiltrated and raid a drug cartel in Tierra De Diablo, Mexico. Somehow they have discovered how to put together the Kobra Venom formula and now they plan to sell it all to an unknown buyer." He brought up all the files from Stella's flash drive. "We can't let that happen."

"How'd you find out about this?" Sam tilted her head.

"During the mission we had in Dallas, I got whiff of the plan from one of Lex's goons." He gestured over to Phoenix. "But it was only when I had Stella go check it out that I realized what they were doing."

"Okay." Evelyn crossed her arms. "So what's the plan?"

Tim smiled and brought up a map of the base. "I'm glad you asked. Listen carefully…"

"Is everyone in position?" Evelyn asked over her transmitter. She was the one leading the mission.

"All's good over here," Vince replied, followed by several other confirmations from other members stating that they were ready as well.

"Good." Evelyn nodded. "Phoenix, you're up." The team was spread out all though the jungle-like forest surrounding the base. Each member had their own entry point in which they would enter.

"Copy that." The fiery red-head weaved her way through the forest, letting off little sparks of fire here and there. The plan was simple. Distract, infiltrate, and destroy. Stella's part was to start a forest fire. Regardless of whether the cartel figured out if it was natural or manmade was irrelevant. The chemicals that made up the Kobra Venom were highly flammable, so they would have to go put out the flames before they could deal with anything else. The reason the team didn't just want to outright destroy the base was because they need to find out who the buyer was. Stella hadn't been able to get that information before due to giant fire wall the goons had all around the file on their computers. So needless to say, that's where Damian came in. Just like all the Robins before him, Damian was an expert computer hacker. It didn't matter what they had blocking his path, he'd always find a way to bulldoze his way through it. Bruce often has to check his own computer to make sure the guy didn't try to break into any government or competing company networks with it.

However the problem with computers is that you are never sure if they even have what you are looking for. So that's where Vince comes in; his job was to go around the base looking for any other information they could find in order to find out who the buyer was. The base was big, so they need someone fast to go around it. Cameron, Evelyn and Sam were there for back up. Their job was to stay in the shadows if something goes wrong. It was something the team learned to have over the years. If plan A fails, make sure you have a plan B.

The forest fire finally started and the people from the cartel were already on the move with their hoses and pails of water. Stella couldn't understand their Spanish, but did her best to stay out of their way. She didn't want them to know they she was there or that she was the one starting the fire. Whenever they would put out one blaze, she would start another. Sure, this was dangerous, but she needed to keep these guys distracted.

"Robin, now!" Evelyn's voice carried over her transmitter.

"Copy that." The boy wonder replied and quickly rushed off to the base. Thankfully, there weren't too many people guarding it anymore due to the fire, but there were still enough to cause him some trouble if things were to go south. So naturally, the Robin took to the roof tops of the base. With his hologram computer on his arm, it didn't take him long to find their central control room. Cliche as it was, it was in the center of the base. "How creative," Damian mumbled to himself and made his way down to the room.

He ran up to door, plugged himself into their electrical lock and hacked it. Within seconds it was open and he was inside. The place looked innocent enough, but he found it odd that there weren't any people guarding the place. There were desks and papers everywhere as if it was just a regular business office. As he walked further in he found the door to the main computer. Again, he opened the door with ease and walked right in.

There it was, the master computer. It was huge and looked somewhat similar to what his father had in the Batcave. Robin was actually quite impressed that these guys would even have a computer like this out in that jungle. He quickly hooked himself up and reported back. "Luna, I'm in. Go ahead and send Vince. I sound be done here in about seven minutes."

"Copy that," Evelyn replied. "Turbo, you're up."

"On it!" He nodded and zoomed into the base.

"Maybe, these guys are just this stupid," Damian muttered to himself, still thinking of how easy this mission was going, that is til he heard those foot steps behind him. Robin quickly unhooked himself and threw several birderangs at the unknown intruder.

The intruder quickly jumped out of the way. It was then that Damian started to hear him laughing. He instantly knew who he was. "Bird boy! Haven't seen you in a while! My, how tall you've gotten." He stood up in faint light and revealed himself.

"Raze," Damian growled and quickly pulled out his sword.

The man chuckled. "Tell me, how's the team?"

Meanwhile back in Mount Justice, Mischa was walking around look for someone. It took her a minute, but she eventually found him in the living room. "Hey there, Spencer." She sat next to him on the couch."What are you doing?" She was a tiny little Asian girl that barely stood over five feet. While Spencer on the other hand, was a giant six foot, pale, shaggy haired nerd.

"Playing WOW." He replied, keeping his eyes on his computer as he killed some unknown monster. Mischa tried to get into the game so she would have something to talk with him about, but it was just too complicated for her liking.

"Sounds fun."

"Uh-huh." He nodded, not paying her too much attention.

"So um… I was wondering if you would want to go out to the movies with me sometime."

"Sure!" Spencer smiled, still keeping his eyes on his screen. "What movie?"

"_Saw XV_."

"You serious?" Spencer finally looked her way.

"Yeah! The reviewers said it was best one so far!" She grinned, she finally got his attention!

"Uh-huh, and I bet they said it was the scariest movie of the year, too." He rolled his eyes.

"Um…as a matter of fact, they did."

"Oh boy." Spencer ran his hand through his hair."Um, how about we go see_Avengers_? It's a remake of the old one."

"Okay! That sound good!" She let out a little squeal. "Wanna go this weekend?" she asked.

"Sure." He nodded and his gaze went right back to his computer screen.

The girl sighed, at least she got his attention for a second.

Evelyn had sent off Vince around the base already to see what else he could find in the campus, but surprisingly, the Boy Wonder hadn't gotten back yet. Ten minutes had passed since she last checked him and he had told her that he was going to be done in seven. She couldn't help but worry a bit.

Vince on the other hand was just keeping his focus on the task at hand. He had hoped more of these goons would have gone off to douse the fire, but no such luck. The watch towers around the pace were still teaming with soldiers and men with guns. So he'd have to be careful going around this place.

Vince went into the first building. Inside was nothing special. It was the men's residents for the place. He quickly went through their things in case one of them kept a diary or anything, but sadly all he could find were dirty socks and liquor.

"Robin, come in. Robin." Evelyn started to call over their radio signal."Robin, this is Luna. Over."

Vince seriously thought these guys were over reacting. So what if Damian hadn't checked in in the last few minutes? It didn't mean that something was wrong necessarily. However, the speedster started to reconsider when he didn't hear the Boy Wonder reply.

"I think something's wrong." Cameron's voice came in. He was on the east side of the base, taking in every detail of the campus from his position. "Robin would have at least checked in with us by now. Something's up."

Vince sped out of the resident building and zoomed through a few more buildings. Eventually, he found the kitchen. Too bad he didn't have time to eat. The place was empty and it looked as if they were in the middle of eating dinner. It was probably for the best he didn't eat anything. The last thing he needed was to get sick from some foreign food that his body couldn't handle.

"Vince any word on him?" Stella asked.

"Nope," He replied, but then again. He was supposed to go anywhere he wasn't.

"I say we go in." Sam looked towards the fire still blazing in the woods. "I'm not gonna be much help if we keep waiting like this. I'm running out of energy, and fast." Sam's powers were depended on the sun and its light. Because of the night, her powers were very limited. Truth be told, Evelyn was kind of thrown off about Tim wanting her to come with them, but hey, he way the one running the missions.

"Butterfly, go join Phoenix," Evelyn ordered. "She should be able to slow that down a bit."

"What about Robin?" she asked.

"We don't know what exactly going on yet. So until we do, I want you with Phoenix."

"Alright." She nodded and took off flying towards Phoenix.

"Arsenal, you come with me. We're going to go find Robin."

"Copy that, Luna." Cameron nodded and the two heroes ran off toward the base.

Damian jumped out of the way of Raze's throwing knives and lunged at him. During the fight, he had lost his transmitter, so he had no way of contacting his team members. Raze saw him coming, so he spun out of the way and managed to take him in a choke hold and shoved him against the wall. This in turn knocked Robin's sword out of his hand, "Pathetic." Raze hung his head. He probably rolled his eyes too, but Damian couldn't tell with the black mask over the guy's head. "Come on! Even that little Asian brat puts up more of a fight this."

"This coming from a guy in his thirties, beating up on a f***ing teenager." Robin spat in his face.

Raze pulled him back and smashed his head into the wall, "You know." He pulled out one of his larger knives and pressed it up against Robin's throat. "I'm going to enjoy sending you back to Gotham in 20 different packages."

"That's gonna be one hell of a shipping bill."

"Believe me." The masked man pressed the knife into his skin."It'll be worth-" Before he could even finish his sentence, Robin hooked his legs around his neck and swung them both down to the ground. This left Raze dazed for a second, a second that Damian took every advantage of by grabbing his sword and pointing itdown on the back of Raze's neck.

"Okay, listen up you black and red spandex freak," Robin growled standing over the man, "I'm going to ask you a few questions, and you are going to answer them."

"Says who?"

"Says the guy who's gonna slice your Goddamn neck open if you don't."

"Right," The man scoffed. "What would the Bat say if he saw you doing this?"

"After what you and that guy did to our friends?" He narrowed his eyes, "I highly doubt he'd have anything to say at all." He paused for a moment. "I bet he's here too, isn't he?"

"Still mad about that? Honestly kid, that was a year ago. Let it go!" The man began to laugh, but Damian cut him off by smacking his face into the floor.

"You_do not_ want to test me today, Hit man. Now the next time you open your mouth, it better say what I want to hear." He wanted to so badly to just kill the man here and now, but Robin knew the mission came first before anyone's personal vendetta. "Who are you working for?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"Tell me now!" He started to dig his sword into the man's skin.

Raze' body flinched at the pain, but stood his ground. "You're not going to get anything out of me boy. So I'd just go ahead and start hacking if I were you."

Damian sighed. He didn't need any more temptation. So he took a shallow swing at the man's back. Raze screamed in pain as his new wound started to seep out blood. "Who are you working for!" No reply. "Listen asshole. Don't make this any harder than it has to be. Tell me who-"

"Sorry, birdy." Raze got up and knocked Robin's sword out of his hand again and knocked him to the ground. "But I don't take kindly to threats."

"What do you think is going on with Robin?" Sam whispered to Stella. The girls were hiding in the trees, keeping their distance from the soldiers from the base.

"I don't know." Stella shrugged. "I just hope he's okay."

"Yeah, me too." Sam looked over the forest. "I sure hope we finish this mission fast. I don't like being out here."

"Neither do I," Phoenix admitted. "I don't know what it is, but I can't help but feel like something's out here with us."

"Other than the soldiers?" Butterfly raised a brow.

"Yeah." She nodded. "But I just can't put my figure on-"

"Look out!" Sam screamed and pushed them both out of the tree,out of the way a swing scythe. The two girls spun around and saw the cause of their anxiety.

"Death…"Phoenix paled and without a sound the black robed creature came out of the shadows.

Cameron and Evelyn quickly made their way to the central control room at the base. They thought it was odd that no one was watching it, but they weren't going to question that right now. Cameron busted down the door and the pair found Robin on the ground being beaten to a pulp by one of the men they had all came to fear on this team. Raze.

The man stopped beating on the boy once the pair stormed in. All his attention was on them now. He let go of Robin took a step forward toward the two, but Cameron quickly went on the defense and raised his crossbow.

"Stay back!" Cameron growled at the villain. "Or I'll shoot you." Evelyn wanted to say something too, but she couldn't seem to find her voice, or move for that matter. All she could do was stare at the man with her wide grey eyes.

The man laughed."Ha, you can try, Arsenal; but I think we all know how this is going to end." He took out his kukri knife.


	4. Chapter 4: Unhealed Wounds

**Hey guys! Here's the new chapter. I'm sorry it take me a while to come out with them, but I just have so much work to do. I hope you this this chapter. Please review after and tell me what you think.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**Unhealed Wounds**

Raze rushed at the pair, but Evelyn quickly used her powers to bend the shadows around him. He was blinded by the darkness, "The hell-" and his attack faltered. Cameron took this time to quickly take a swing at him and knock the bastard out. He fell over unconscious and didn't even make a peep when he got hit.

Evelyn looked between the two. "How did you just do that?" she asked. Arsenal had a good swing, but not THAT good.

"Brass knuckles." He raised his fist. "They're new."

"Oh, well... good job then." Evelyn's mind focused back on to their fallen comrade. "Robin!" she cried and ran to his side. Cam followed close behind.

"How bad is he?" Cam asked. Evelyn was taking the boy into her arms. God only knew how Bruce and Arianna were gonna react when they hear about this.

"I don't know." She confessed, looking the boy over. He was unconscious and red bruises were forming everywhere. Evelyn took a second to look around the building and quickly realized the main computer was in the room next door. "I'll go finish hacking the computer, you take Damian and meet up with Turbo. I want you guys and the girls to meet up back at the bioship. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Okay." He nodded and threw the boy wonder over his shoulder. Then quickly left the building and contacted the others over their radio. "Guys listen up. Vince, I need you to meet me outside the base at location 6. Luna Levis has just ordered us to rendezvous back at the bioship. Is that under stood?"

"Copy that." Vince replied, but the girls remained silent.

"Butterfly, Phoenix. Did you get that?" No reply. "Butterfly! Phoenix! Did you get that? Over!" He repeated, but still no answer. The boys had already met together. All they had to do now was wait for the girls. However with the silence hanging in the air, Cameron couldn't help but worry about them.

"Copy that!" one the girls finally replied, but Cameron wasn't sure who. "But you're going to have to give us a few minutes."

"Why? What's going on?"

"Death is here!" the other girl shrieked. He knew that voice anywhere, it was Stella.

Cameron and Vince both stopped in their tracks. "Did you say Death?"

"Yes!" Sam screamed back. It sound like she was trying to dodge something, but failed. This was bad. Not only was Raze here, but Death was here, too. Cameron knew the team had a bad past with the duo, but no one would ever give him any details.

"Hold on, I'll be right there!" He shouted. He quickly turned to Vince and handed Robin over to him. "Take him to the bioship, I'll help the girls." Vince nodded and dashed off. Then, Cameron readied his crossbow and ran over to the fire.

* * *

"TIM!" Arianna shouted. "TIM!" Alfred had just told her that Damian had gone out on a mission and she was furious. Not only was the brat out in Mexico, but by the time he would get back he would end up sleeping there at the Mountain. Which meant that she would have to stay there as well to keep an eye on him. "TIM!" she yelled again. She knew he had to have heard her, everyone else in the cave could hear her. It was 11:30 now and the heroes that were already in bed were screaming at her to shut up.

She quickly made her way to the main hanger and found him there messing around on the computer. "Tim! Didn't you hear me calling you?"

The boy glanced at her lazily. "Nope, can't say that I did."

"Liar." She narrowed her eyes, "I can't believe you sent him out! You do realize this cuts into my time now, right?"

"Ari, I can handle Damian myself. You don't have to stay here if you don't want to."

"Really? Is that why Damian nearly decapitated with his sword last time I wasn't here to watch him?"

"THAT was an isolated incident. It won't happen again." He held her gaze, trying to will her to back down, but he had no such luck.

"Right. Why didn't you just go on the mission? Or have Eric do it?"

"Because I'm busy and so is he. Besides, Damian hasn't been on a mission in a while; he needs to get more field experience."

"And this couldn't wait till the weekend, huh?"

"Whatever Charmer." He focused back on the computer."I have other things to do than worry about you and the baby bird."

She rolled her eyes, "Hsarc," and the computer screen instantly turned blue and numbers started rolling across the page.

"The hell!" Tim started to frantically type on the keyboard, but nothing was helping. "What did you do?"

"Nothing." She smiled and walked away.

* * *

Stella screamed as Death's Scythe came swinging at them. It gave away their position, but she couldn't help it. She knew all too well what this guy could do and was too sacred to care about anything other than not getting impaled but the giant blade.

"Phoenix! Pull yourself together!" Sam ordered at her. She was trying to force Death back with her multi-color lasers, but she was almost out of energy. In fact, she was almost on empty. "I can't keep this up forever!" The bastard had already managed to get a good swing at her back and left a giant gash running across from her shoulder to her hip. She didn't want to give him another chance to do it again. So she needed Phoenix to focus.

"R-right." She stuttered and summoned up all the fire in her body and blasted at the phantom. He made no sound when it hit him, however he did stumble back and fell backwards. In all honesty, there wasn't much they could do. Death wasn't like any of the other villains out there. He was a ghost and for some reason he was restless and hellbent on killing everything that moved. If Stella was to be honest with herself, she knew they needed to just run and get out of there. The only thing that could really hurt him was magic, Necromancy to be precise; and since Charmer wasn't there, they were screwed.

Death got back to his feet and started to attack the girls again. The other soldiers finally noticed them and were starting to close in. They just need to fly out of there, but they couldn't. Death would always manage to cut them off before they had a chance to go anywhere.

"This isn't good." Sam commented. They were surrounded now. The two girls were back to back now, trying their best not to die.

"You think?" Stella growled. She was already panicking and didn't need anyone telling her how bad their situation was. She already knew!

The soldiers and Death were closing in on them. Stella could almost feel Death smirking under that skull mask of his. The young girl knew of only one trick that she could pull in order to escape, but it was risky, "Sam." She whispered quietly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to release my powers. I need you to fly up and get a good distance away from me."

"Excuse me?" She lifted a brow.

"You heard me."

"And how exactly do you expect me to do that?" Sam growled, "He stops us whenever we try to escape."

"I'll distract them, just fly away. I'll cover you."

"You better." She looked around warily, and just like that she shot up in the air. Again, Death tried to cut her off by jumping in the air, but Stella blasted him away before he could reach her. Sam was able to get away and Stella released her wrath. Her whole body lit up on fire.

"¡Cuidado!" One of the men shouted and the group stepped back, but not nearly as far enough as they should have. Phoenix flipped on to her hands and performed a fiery spinning kick that knocked everyone, including Death, off their feet. In fact she might have roasted a few people alive, but she didn't take any time to dwell on that. As soon as she saw that they were all out, she took to the air. She quickly joined Sam, who had already found Cameron.

"I thought you guys needed help?" He raised a brow.

"We did!" She narrowed her eyes. "Some help you were! They almost kill us! Or worse, that psychopath might have kidnapped us!"

"I was on my way to help you."

"But you didn't." She growled staring at him wide eyed. "You didn't!" She was starting to act a bit hysteric now. Cameron knew this had to do with the incident that happened a year ago, but they did not have time to get into this now. Evelyn was done with the computer and had given the order to blow the place sky high. So he needed her focused and not having a mental breakdown.

"Stella." He placed his hands on both sides of her face and made her look him in the eye, "You need to calm down. I can appreciate that you are scared, but we have a mission to complete. Evelyn has given the order already. We need you and Butterfly to carry it out. Do you understand me?" For a second she looked as if she was gonna burst into tears, but she pulled herself back together and pushed him away.

"Okay." She nodded, taking a deep breath. "Okay, I can do that."

Sam took her hand and started to guide her into the air. "We'll meet back at the bioship in a few minutes," she told Cameron."Don't worry about her, I'll keep her together." Stella shot her a glare.

"Who said I was worried?" He raised a brow.

"Right," Sam replied and gave him a smile and a wink. Cameron blushed a bit and was about to ask her what she was talking about, but they pair had already left before he could say anything.

It didn't take them long to carry out the order. Within two minutes they already had the place up in flames and quickly returned back to the bioship. Not wasting any time, Evelyn took the ship into the air and the six of them were off.

* * *

Arianna was in the kitchen making a late night snack. She should have been asleep by now, but she couldn't. The team wasn't back yet and she was worried.

"Arianna!" Mischa smiled from the door way. She came walking in and gave the girl a hug, "What are you doing here so late. Actually, what are you doing up so late? It's 3am."

"Damian and the others are out on a mission." She explained, "I just…. I'm just-"

"Worried?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "You just never know with our line of work. One day they could be taking out the bad guys, the next, they could get kill by them."

"We all know the risk," Mischa reminded her. "You and I know them more than most."

"Don't remind me." She rubbed her temples. "I still have nightmares about that."

"Same," She confessed. "But hey! We lived through it."

"Barely." She got a cup of water and sipped it.

"We wouldn't have made it out without you, you know?" Mishca got out a cup and pulled out some milk. "Without your magic, Death and Raze would have just continued torturing us. Probably till we died."

"If it wasn't for you getting me free, I wouldn't have been able to do anything," Arianna countered. She hated how weak her body was, without the team's help, she was useless in a fight.

"I got us caught," Mischa reminded her. "Not you." She pressed her lips into a thin line. "I screwed that mission up."

"But you fixed in the end." Arianna patted her shoulder. "And that's what counts."

"Sure." She gave her a weak smile, but she still blamed herself for what happen that weekend. The others always assured her that it wasn't her fault, but she knew it was a lie. It was her fault, no matter how many times they lied to themselves. Just then they heard Tom and Amber coming in. She was laughing about whatever joke he just told her and Tom was admiring her smile. Never has either girl seen such a perfect couple, except for M'gann and Connor, of course. Just looking at the couple made them wonder if they would feel that way about anyone.

"Hey guys!" Amber smiled at the pair. "What are you guys doing up?"

"I was studying Biology," Mischa explained. "Ari here is worried about Damian."

"Am not!" She blushed. "If anything, I getting ready to give that boy a piece of my mind!"

"Right," Tom smirked, but Arianna didn't reply. Instead she just sat there and pouted.

Suddenly they heard the bioship land inside the cave. They were back! The two girls smiled and decided to meet and welcome them back. They made their way to the landing pad. Arianna was getting ready to yell at the boy wonder for taking off and making her worry, but as soon as she saw them carrying him out, her heart stopped. Damian was unconscious and looked like he had just survived World War III. Hell, the others looked the same! They were all covered in dirt and bruises and some had blood stains on them.

Arianna rushed over to his side, Vince was holding him bridal style. Under better circumstances she might have poked fun at him about it, but right now it was no laughing matter. "Good God! Damian! What happened?" she yelled. The others quickly surround the group, helping them in any way that they could.

"Raze and Death were there," Vince replied. "They took us by surprise."

"Is he gonna be okay?" Arianna demanded, Damian's shallow breaths were frightening her.

"I'm not sure," he confessed.

Then Evelyn came out of the ship, "Vince, take him to the medical bay. I'll be right there." The speedster nodded and dashed off. "We found him taking on Raze alone." She began to explain, "I'm not all too sure what he did to him, but we will know soon. I already called Batman, he's bringing help."

Arianna nodded, "O-okay," and looked at the others, most seemed to be fine, nothing too serious other than their worn out appearance. All except for Sam, she had a large cut that ran diagonally across her back. Arianna stared at it wide eyes and covered her mouth. She knew that kind of wound anywhere. She must have been one of the ones that ran into Death. God, who would have thought something like this would happen. Just a minute ago she was just talking about it over with Mischa, now it was back in their faces. Of all the night for them to run back into them again, it just had to have been tonight. Arianna quickly nodded and ran over to Sam and helped her to the medical bay after the boys. She was not going to lose it. Not now. Damian and the others needed her to be strong. The last thing they needed was for her to start crying and become another problem for them. There would be a time to shed tears and that time was not then.

* * *

Meanwhile faraway in New York, a young man's phone rang. He was in his rundown apartment working on something on his computer. He quickly rushed over to his little pre-paid phone and answered it. "Hello?"

"It's Raze," the caller answered.

The young man growled in annoyance. "What is it?"

"The sidekick team decided to show up here and burn this place to the ground. We managed to save about half of the Kobra Venom though."

"How the hell did they even find out about that place to begin with?" He growled again. He was going to find out who squealed and make them wish they were dead.

"I don't know," Raze confessed. "But Death will find out."

"Make sure he does," He warned him. "And be sure to bring whoever it was to me. Alive. I want to have a personal chat with him."

"Sure thing, Boss."

"Good. Now make sure you deliverer what you can to me. If I find that you guys kept anything-"

"Yeah, Yeah, we know."

"Good," He repeated and hung up the phone.

Then he sat down and quickly dial another number. He sat there for a minute while it rang then a voice from the other side of the line answered it. "Yeah?"

"We got a problem."


	5. Chapter 5: Cats and Robbers

**Hey guys, I'm finally coming out with the new chapter! I am so deeply sorry it took this long and that it's a rather short chapter. I just felt that I kept you guys waiting so long. So I decided to come out with this as fast I could and force myself to get back on track. I promise that the next one will be better, much better, and longer. Please review and tell me what you think. Let me know you're still interested in this please.**

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Cats and Robbers/ April 12, 2023

A week had passed since the Raze and Death incident happened and everything was going pretty well. Damian and Sam's wounds were healing nicely, but they were most likely gonna scar, not that either one cared. The majority of the League knew of the team's history with the pair and were quite happy that the team was taking everything as well as they were. About 7 months ago, they were all out on a mission to Bialyia. Just like on all their pervious missions there, they sent out an all-girls team to take care of it. They ended up getting captured and stuck in an underground prison where Queen Bee had them tortured for 2 weeks by the deadly pair, trying to get some information on the League.

Thankfully, the girls managed to hold themselves together, but they had endured so much during the ordeal. They were still pretty shaky whenever Raze and Death would come up, so the League had always done their best to keep them away from each other, but sadly last week just didn't work out for them.

"Arg!" Damian growled "I f***ing hate this! When can I get out of here?"

Arianna rolled her eyes. "Not for a few weeks, keep moving around the way you do and it'll take longer. You know this."

Damian did know, but decided to ask anyway. He was gonna be stuck to his room for the next two weeks due to his injuries from the last mission and it was driving him insane. Thankfully, Arianna was able to speed up the healing process with her magic or else he would have been stuck in there longer, but being so confined was just getting to him. He wanted to go outside! Train! Beat the crap out of some robbers, just something for God's sake! Arianna did her best to keep him company, but she still had school and training with Zatanna. So she really didn't have a lot of time for him. However somehow she still managed to stay with him most of the time. She hardly ever left his side since the incident. Damian never understood how she was able to have time for all these things, but he didn't question it. He really appreciated her presents, not that he would ever admit it.

"Whatever."

"Come on, Damian, don't be such a downer." She smiled. "Why don't we watch a movie?"

"No. That's all we've been doing for the past three days." He groaned. No matter how much he liked Ari, he was NOT gonna sit through anymore of her stupid chick-flick movies. He was gonna break something if he did.

"How about we play a video game then?"

"Pass."

"Board game?"

"Pass."

"How about a present?" She smiled.

Damian paused and stared at her for a second. "What kind of present?"

"Well, since I can't stay with you all day, I thought I would get you a friend to keep you company!"

"Hm... Okay. Let's see it then."

She beamed and chanted, "Gnirb eht nettik ot em!" Then a small, fluffy, smoke colored kitten came floating into the room.

"What is that?" Damian scooted away and scrunched up his nose. He looked as if the small little fluffy creature offended him in some way.

"Damian, meet your new pet cat!"

* * *

Sam A.K.A. Butterfly was out patrolling around Los Angeles. The cut on her back was still healing, but she needed to get out. She had been cooped up in her house for way too long.

After a while she eventually came across a high profile hostage situation down at the city bank. In the past she had taken care of situations similar to this before, but not quite like it. There seemed to be about ten people involved. Five were taking care of the perimeter while the others were getting the money and keeping the hostages under control. Sadly, besides the police, her nearest backup from the League would take about 20 minutes to get there, maybe longer. She didn't want to wait that long, so she was gonna have to fly solo this time. She quickly went over to the police chief and decided to get a better grasp on the situation.

"Chief." She landed next to him. "What's the story here? What's going on?"

"Butterfly! It's good to see you. There are about 10 guys inside. Half of them are keeping us out while the others are holding down everything inside. If we advance, they say they will start killing hostages."

"Great…" Sam ran her hand through her hair. "So the classic 'try and stop us and we'll kill people' situation. Leave it to me. I'll get in and stop them. Just keep them distracted and focused on you for the next few minutes. Can you do that?"

"Yes Ma'am." The police chief nodded and started to shout off orders at the other cops.

"We'll this should be interesting." Butterfly muttered to herself and then took to the air once again.


	6. Chapter 6: Gentlemen's club

**New Chapter guys! Hope you like it, I tried my best to involve most of the team today. As always, please review and let me know what you think. This is all for you!**

**Also, quick thought. I've been thinking of drawing the characters (just the team). What do you guys think?**

* * *

Sam took a look around for a way to get inside the bank without getting caught by the robbers, but it was very well fortified. Finding an obvious entrance was not gonna be easy. The police were doing a good job coming up with a distraction. They were calling over to the robbers telling them to surrender while they still had a chance, which led to an argument between the two parties.

It took awhile, but after a few minutes of searching Sam found a way inside through one of the giant vents on the roof. The only problem, she realized, was she wasn't the only one who found it. Already on the roof was a man dressed in black button-up shirt and blue jacket. His pants were blue along with his mask and a matching top hat to complete the outfit. The only thing was throwing off the whole color scheme off was his odd red tie he was wearing, but Butterfly didn't pay too much attention to that. Instead, she wondered how in the world he ended up there and whatsuch an oddly dressed character was doing in a situation like this?

* * *

"Didyou get the popcorn?" Spencer quickly asked Mischa as she sat down next to him in the theatre. The two were at the movies getting ready to see the new Avengers remake movie. The trailers looked good, so he thought it would be a better pick than watching the 15th Saw movie. Seriously those movies just needed to stop. Saw 7 was already pushing it, now having a number 15 was just insane.

"Of course!" Mischa giggled and handed the popcorn to him. "See?"

"Thanks!" Spencer smiled, "And I got your Dr. Pepper." He handed over her soda. "Looks like we've got everything we need."

"Yep!"She smiled. She was so happy to be going on this semi-date with Spencer. Sadly, she was sure he still didn't understand that she liked him, but right now this was good enough. As long as she got to spend time with him, she was happy. "Do you think this will be better than the original?"

"Maybe, but we'll just have to watch and see." He grabbed a handful of popcorn and stuffed it in his face. "You look nice today, by the way." He complimented with his mouth full, which most girls would have probably thought was gross, but Mischa thought it was completely adorable.

"Th-thankyou." She blushed. What could she say? She was in love.

* * *

While all this was going on, some of the team decided to stay at the mountain. Inside were Cameron, Vince, Impulse, Tim, and Eric who had just gotten back from his trip. They were all in the gym sparing and using the equipment while the girls, Stella, Heather, and Evelyn were out enjoying the day.

"So,how was the trip?" Red Robin asked, blocking a kick from Eric a.k.a Tracker. Cameron, Vince, and Bart had doing a sparring session of their own where Vince and Impulse were the ones going at it, while Cameron decided to stick to the sidelines. Tim and Eric, however, were in a corner away from the other guys so no one else could hear their conversation.

"Okay,"he admitted. "This guy just asked me to locate aperson and paid me. I didn't even have to go looking for him myself, he's gonna do it on his own." Eric was given the codename Tracker for a reason. Thanks to Tim's mentoring and a bit of input from the rest of the bat-family, he was quite the detective. He could find and locate just about anyone you would ever need, so long as you gave him enough money, of course.

"Sounds like an easy job."

"It was." Eric jumped back and created some space between them. "I heard what happened on the last mission."

"I bet." Tim faked a swing at him and instead took to the ground and gave him a low kick to his ankles that knocked Eric on his back."It gave everyone quite a spook to see that pair."

"How are Sam and Damian doing?" He rolled away, went into a flying kick at the older boy and managed to give the guy a good kick to the face.

"Arg,"he growled at the pain. "They're okay. Damian's been throwing little temper tantrums here and there, but Ari's been keeping him under control for the most part."

Eric narrowed his eyes at the mentioning of those two together, "You don't say. And Sam?"

"I heard she snuck out on a patrol on her own this morning. You know how much she hates being stuck inside during the daylight hours." Tim charged at him again, but this time with a superman punch that Eric was barely able to block. Not that it mattered much, since the blow still hurt his arm like hell.

"I can imagine." He smirked.

Cameron and the two speedsters, Vince and Bart, decided to take a break from their little work out inside and go out to see what the girls where up to. It seemed that they just enjoying their time out in the water. Which Bart could see made Vince very happy. Heather was wearing the blue polka dot bikini he bought her.

Unable to control himself, the young sidekick dashed over to the nephilim to tell her just how great she looked. Bart and Cam just shook their heads. The boy was never gonna learn.

"Hey babe. Looking good." Vince popped up behind her. Heather had been standing at the edge of the water when he arrived and nearly fell over when she realized how uncomfortably close he was.

"Whoa!"she yelp and jumped away. "When did you get here?"

Vince smirked. "When do you think?"

"He just got here, Heather." Evelyn swam over and answered for him. "His smile nearly touched his ears when he saw you in your bathing suit."

"Figures." She shot an annoyed glare at him.

"Girl, you can't blame me." He put on an innocent look."A lot of guys would die to see you in that outfit right now. And I'm one of them."

"Oh God…" She faceplamed herself and shook her head.

"Hey girls!" Bart waved at the group. "How's the water?"

"Really nice." Stella floated over. "It's a pretty hot day after all."

"That she is." Vince stared dreamily at Heather, but everyone ignored him.

* * *

Sam kept a close eye on the blue-suited stranger. At this point,she thought it safe to consider him one of the robbers or perhaps someone else trying to make a quick buck during all the chaos. Either way, he had to go. It took a few moments, but eventually Butterfly managed to land on the roof without alerting the blue-suited man of her presence. She wanted to take him out fast and the less noise she made up here, the better the chances for getting inside.

With her colorful lit powers in her hand, Sam shot her arm forward and blasted a quick laser at him, but to her amazement he dodged it and without even looking! "Listen." He quickly turned to speak with her. "I know who you are and I'm not here to pick a fight with you." He stated quickly. He knew that Butterfly had been hovering near by, but he wasn't sure how close to him she was until now.

"Riiiiiight." Sam stepped into her fighting stance with her powers visibly ready for a fight. "And you're breaking into the bank during this robbery because?"

"That same reason you are!" He gestured towards her. "To stop the robbers. I'm not your enemy, Butterfly. Actually, I'm on your side!"

"Yeah right." She narrowed her eyes. "I don't even know you!"

"Oh right! How rude of me." He chuckled and quickly took off his matching blue top hat. "You may call me the Blue Gentleman, or just Blue for short." He bowed, "Pleased to make your acquaintance."


End file.
